Something strange
by kei-taiga
Summary: Aomine and Kagami come to the conclusion that maybe the other isn't as simple as they originally thought.
1. Chapter 1

He grabbed onto the back of the redhead's shirt as he jumped up to dunk, yanking him back down to the earth. Kagami, caught completely unawares, stumbled as he landed while trying to regain any sense of balance. He moved back a few steps before falling on his rear with a curse.

"Shit!" He yelled with all the fury he could muster. "What the hell Ahomine?"

The other shrugged before shoving his pinky in his ear with a bored expression.

"Just thought it'd be interesting to see you fall on your ass."

Kagami's blood boiled at the answer. He would do something like that just for the entertainment? What if he had hit his head when he fell? What if he had landed on Aomine and one of them had broken something because of it? A million thoughts raced through his mind as he stared angrily at the person in front of him.

"Ah, jeez." He finally said after his deliberating got him nowhere. "I'm going home for today. Don't try to contact me until your asshole level goes down a bit."

Kagami stood up and walked over to where their bags lay, snatching his towel off the fence as he did. He didn't look back to see Aomine staring after him with a very out of character expression on his face.

Aomine watched him go, his actual emotions beginning to show on his face. He was nervous. They had been going through the habit of playing one-on-one every couple of days after school for about three months now. One of them would send a text with a court and a time and the other would respond whether they would meet up or not, it was a pretty good system. But then something changed. Aomine began noticing the differences in how Kagami played. It wasn't so obvious that his team would call him out on it, though Kuroko probably knew already, but it was very worrying to Aomine.

Kagami was improving. Yeah, yeah, most people would say the it's to be expected and that its impossible not to after playing every day but this was different. Kagami was beginning to show the exact same signs that the rest of the Generation of Miracles had shown before their team broke apart, and this really worried Aomine.

He had undoubtedly had been through the worst out of all of them and knew exactly what it could do to a person. When he had seen Kagami jump, his arm had moved without him thinking, dragging him back down so that he couldn't make that final basket.

Aomine grabbed his towel and leaned down for his bag so he could walk home, still worrying like some mother hen, only to come face to face with a large pair of expressionless blue eyes.

It was Aomine's turn to fall on his ass and yell profanities at the silent offender who ignored him and took another sip of his milkshake.

"Tetsu!" He yelled after calming down a bit, just a bit mind you. He was still rather startled. "The hell did you come from?"

Kuroko regarded him silently for a moment, then spoke.

"Just like everyone else, I emerged from my mother's womb Aomine-kun."

Aomine swore he saw those pale eyes dance with mirth for a moment before returning to their normal flat stare.

"Okay, okay." Aomine groaned as he stood up. Damn his ass hurt now. He felt a little sorry for Kagami who had fallen with considerably more force. "What I mean is how long have you been here?"

Kuroko stared at him for a bit again before answering seriously.

"I saw you two begin the last game."

Aomine groaned inwardly. Now his former partner was probably going to lecture him on how he was manhandling his precious light.

"Aomine-kun," He began, looking like he was trying to bore a hole through the other with his eyes. "I see what you're worried about but that is not the right way to go about helping Kagami-kun."

Aomine gaped like a fish before remembering that this was Tetsu he was talking with. The shorter boy could probably read his mind by now, seeing as how observant he had become and how much he knew Aomine.

"Well what else was I supposed to do? Enlighten me your honour." He said dryly, keeping up his public asshole face.

"I am not quite sure either but for one, you need to practice more." Kuroko retorted. Even through his lack of expression Aomine could see that he was worried for both of them. He knew why Aomine rarely practiced and saw that the only way for Kagami to stay the same was for him to have a rival. They both needed a goal.

Aomine sighed as he figured out Kuroko's thought process.

"Also, one more thing." Kuroko spoke again, confusing Aomine who though he had said his two cents and was done. "Momoi-san says to tell you that she's been accepted for the studying abroad program she signed up for. She'll be leaving in a week for four months in France."

Shit.

He had been hoping that she wouldn't go, although he should have known better since she was at the top of the class. Now he would have to find some way of managing on his own.

He grabbed his bag and began the journey home, waving a goodbye over his shoulder to Kuroko who stayed and simply watched him go.

As Aomine reached home, he noticed a large amount of noise coming from inside. That was strange. His parents normally weren't home until dinner, yet he could clearly hear their voices. He kicked off his shoes at the entrance and wandered into the kitchen, the source of the noise. He was met with excited stares from his parents as they noticed his presence.

"Daiki!" His mother said with a huge grin on her face. "Your father and I get to go on a trip!"

What.

His father smiled over his coffee cup. "Your mother and I won the trip in the lottery the company did last month!"

You've got to be kidding.

His mother spoke again.

"We'll be off to the Galapagos Islands for three months! Isn't that amazing! We get two months of paid vacation time and we don't have to spend anything!"

Yeah that was great and all but what about food? Aomine couldn't cook to save his life and his family knew it.

"We've already arranged everything. We signed up for a catering service for you!"

His mother handed him a large booklet. He quickly looked through it and almost drooled. They had everything from scrambled eggs for breakfast to customizable cakes for dessert.

He nodded and congratulated them before heading upstairs to his room. They would be leaving in a week, the same time as Satsuki. He sighed and flopped down on his bed, suddenly tired. He would have to rely on himself for a while. It might even mean dropping the whole proud asshole thing a few notches for a while. It's not like he was always that way, in fact he was actually a rather decent person way down deep, he was just too used to acting like an ass. It was easier that way. People gave him his distance, didn't twist their words into niceties when trying to talk to him and generally just left him the hell alone. This suited Aomine just fine. If he wanted to, he would take the initiative to talk to them.

He reached over to the other side of the bed and grabbed one of his magazines. As with most of them, this one was featuring his beloved Mai-chan. He listened intently and heard his parents making dinner. They would be occupied for a while. He eased off his clothes and pumped a palm full of clear lubricant he kept in a hand sanitizer bottle. If Satsuki had seen it in the original packaging, it would have been gone before it was even opened. He used to have to attach fake covers to his magazines before she had just given up on getting rid of them.

He stared at his favourite shot while he slowly began stroking himself. He did this so often that it didn't take much time at all before he was nearing his peak. His hand moved faster as he neared the brink, yet he couldn't quite reach the pleasure he desired. He groaned in frustration. As he tried to push himself over the edge, his mind wandered a bit to the day's events. He found himself thinking of the rush of adrenaline that came with playing basketball. That pushed him a little closer, but not as far as he needed. He gritted his teeth as he moved faster, his arm aching at the prolonged use and speed he was going at. Out of nowhere, a face entered his mind. Kagami. Grinning like an idiot after winning the first game. His face flushed with exertion and dripping sweat. Aomine's body jolted and he let out a deep groan as he finally pushed himself over the edge, then laid there in a rather pleasant state of relaxation and bliss.

Then reality kicked in and invaded his afterglow, causing him to realize exactly what he had just done.

He had just used Kagami as masturbation material.

Kagami.

A guy.

His basketball rival.

An airheaded food monster that was hard, muscled and most certainly did not have big pillow-like breasts.

Aomine was very confused. He knew that Kagami was one of the few people he actually enjoyed talking, arguing, playing and just essentially hanging out with but he had assumed that the feeling drawing him to the redhead was a sense of companionship. As he thought about it more, he realized that it actually made an alarming amount of sense if the feeling went deeper than that. It would explain the loneliness and disappointment every time the redhead couldn't make it, the leap of joy whenever he got a text asking him for a match and the continuously nagging voice in the back of his mind that said 'I wanna go play basketball with Kagami' almost all the time.

He wiped himself off and sighed. He had only ever liked someone seriously once before, granted that one was a girl, and was rejected when he asked her out (He hadn't done his research and she already had a boyfriend). What he had felt for her was nothing compared to how he saw the current object of his affections.

He finished cleaning himself up and put his clothes back on. He would play it normal for now. Just realizing something that had might exist wasn't going to change anything. He'd try to get closer to Kagami first and see if this was actually the case.

"Daiki! Dinner's done!"

Aomine heard his mother call from the kitchen and went downstairs. Time to start plotting.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami stretched gingerly as he got out of bed, then felt confused. His body wasn't in the regular amount of pain that it usually was on a Saturday morning. He slowly twisted and moved his joints, still nothing.

Ah.

The realization hit him like one of Kuroko's vanishing acts. He hadn't been playing with Aomine yesterday. He worked out a kink in his neck and stumbled to the kitchen to fix breakfast. It had been about week since the asshole had made him land oh-so-elegantly on his butt at the court.

Kagami opened his refrigerator and pushed the contents around a bit, trying to find something enticing to eat. He settled on making a boatload of scrambled eggs and toast with strawberry jam.

As he beat the eggs, he noticed how there was no pain when he used his arms. It was kind of weird. He had gotten so used to the soreness.

He groaned in anticipation while he cooked, the smell spreading through his apartment and making him even hungrier. As soon as it was done, he fell upon it ravenously, trying to stuff his face as quickly as possible without getting burnt. It didn't take long to finish.

He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling, fully awake. Now what? Normally he was in enough pain to justify sitting around and doing a whole lot of nothing on his Saturdays. If he did nothing today, it would just be pure laziness.

He glared at the bag he had placed by the door. It had his shoes, his towel, everything he would need to run out the door to the court, yet there was one problem.

That bastard hadn't called him or messaged him.

Not once.

He gritted his teeth. Sure, he had told the other not to call him unless he was going to be decent, like that was ever going to happen, but he didn't actually expect to be waiting more than a few days.

He turned his attention to cleaning up the dishes. There was no way he'd be the first to relent and call the other. He wasn't that desperate. Yet.

Kagami couldn't deny that a week without playing Aomine was taking its toll on him. He was getting more aggressive in normal practices, the frustration of not being able to spend his spare time playing until he dropped rearing its ugly head. No matter who he played was, it just wasn't enough. Nobody could egg him on and take whatever he threw like Aomine could.

He sighed as he began the long and annoying task of cleaning his entire apartment. At least it would take his mind off things for a while.

Aomine tossed his phone from hand to hand. He was sitting at the court near Kagami's apartment, which he had been doing for a while. He stopped and opened his phone to stare at the text he had been trying to send for days. It was just a simple text, a couple of words. He sighed and shut his phone again.

Was it casual enough?

Did it sound weird?

A million thoughts were running through his mind. He hated how aware he had become regarding Kagami. He flipped his phone open again, this time staring at Kagami's contact screen.

Oh screw it.

He pressed the call button.

As soon as he did it, anxiety flooded his mind. It was like a dam had been broken. He was so tempted to hang up, but Kagami would see that he had called.

Surprisingly, Kagami picked up right after the second ring.

"Hello? Kagami speaking."

"Yo."

Aomine promptly panicked. Was his voice normal? Did he sound weird? Did Kagami's voice always sound so deep and pleasant?

"Ah. Ahomine."

Kagami tried to sound annoyed, but he couldn't mask the undertone of glee in his voice.

"I'm bored so I came to the court near your place. Get out here so we can play."

Great.

Nice going there asshole.

Now he's probably pissed.

Aomine heard a sigh from the other end.

"Yes, yes your highness. I've just gotta finish vacuuming. See ya."

Aomine was about to respond but Kagami ended the call, effectively cutting off what would have probably been another stupid remark.

He exhaled and leaned back, stuffing his phone into his bag. All things considered, that had gone rather well. Now to wait.

Kagami dashed to the door. He grabbed his bag, shoved on his shoes and then paused. What was he thinking? Better to make that asshole wait. Besides, he had told him he was still vacuuming. He didn't want to seem too eager.

He sat down and waited.

He checked his phone, still not enough time had passed.

He paced around the entryway, energy rushing through his limbs.

Oh to hell with waiting.

Kagami grabbed his keys, stepped outside and locked the door before setting a brisk pace towards the court. He couldn't care less about whatever stupid game they had been playing about who contacted who, he wanted to play basketball and he wanted to play now. He'd be damned if he didn't get what he wanted.

Aomine twisted his head for the millionth time to the court entrance.

Still no Kagami.

How long would it take him to vacuum his damn apartment? Aomine sighed and leaned his head backwards. All this waiting was killing him. After not seeing Kagami for a week, he was feeling anxious and uneasy at the prospect of meeting up.

He heard footsteps and turned his head back to the entrance.

Kagami was there.

Kagami looked pissed.

He could practically see frustration emanating in waves off the other's body. He balked at bit when he saw this, becoming even more nervous. Had he hit a nerve somewhere with his comments over the phone? His worries were soon pushed back as Kagami threw his bag next to Aomine's.

"Oi. Let's play."

Ah. So he simply wanted to play. It made an alarming amount of sense to Aomine, seeing as he would have been in the exact same state if he hadn't been worrying and panicking his ass off the entire week.

"Heh. Anxious aren't we Bakagami?" He responded, egging Kagami on.

"Shut up Ahomine! Get your ass on the court!" Kagami looked slightly flustered.

Aomine just laughed and tossed him the basketball he had brought.

"Same rules?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Same rules." Kagami gave him the expected response.

They started out slowly, testing the other, poking around for any new weakness. Then their game heated up. It was a battle for even one shot. They dashed across the court in unison. They played off of pure instinct, any kind of planning being practically useless in their battle.

Dunk after dunk they raced across the pavement, sweating and gasping for air, yet never slowing down. They pushed themselves to their known limits, then a bit beyond. At this point, anyone watching would have been confused. Although they were both tired and exhausted, fighting on willpower alone, they both wore huge grins of pure enjoyment.

After a while they collided midair when Kagami jumped to dunk in the ball, making them fall in a heap onto the ground.

Aomine groaned as he fell flat on his back, then yelped as Kagami fell right on top of him.

Aomine started to panic again. They were so close. Kagami was lying pressed on top of him, left hand trapped between their chests, right hand near Aomine's head and his legs splayed so that his right one was right between Aomine's. Not to mention his almost overpowering smell. It smelled like sweat, food, and Kagami. The latter being some seriously addictive blend of cooking spices and was always present.

Kagami groaned and Aomine almost started shaking as he felt the vibrations spread for Kagami's chest to his own.

What was this?

He couldn't take it. Half of him wanted to shove off the other and run as far away as he could, yet the other half of him wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Kagami and bury his face into his hair.

Thankfully, Kagami decided to get up. He pushed down on his arms, lifting up his torso. Not so thankfully, this brought up a whole new problem for Aomine.

Kagami looked damn hot right now.

His hair messy, one arm pressed against Aomine's chest, his face flushed and sweating, his breathing still uneven, he looked down at Aomine strangely.

Crap.

Aomine noticed that he would normally be complaining in this kind of situation.

"Come on, did you really have to plant your huge, heavy body right on me? Ah, it freaking hurts!" He complained.

"Huh? Why is it my fault? You're the one who jumped right into me!"

The strange look left Kagami's eyes as they both got up.

Aomine looked at the sky and cursed loudly, grabbing Kagami's attention.

"What's wrong?"

"Almost dark out already."

Kagami looked up and seemed surprised. It actually was starting to get dark.

Aomine cursed silently, he had wanted to spend more time together. He walked over and picked up his bag, draping his towel over his neck. He turned to say bye, only to be stopped by a confusing expression on Kagami's face.

He didn't know how to describe it. It was something like indecision.

"Do you wanna eat at my place?"

Aomine's figurative jaw dropped, broke the pavement, then continued on down until it burst out the other side of the planet and continued on into space. What?

Kagami scratched the back of his head and looked at him expectantly.

Crap. Aomine's brain finally finished rebooting after the shock and informed him that Kagami was waiting for an answer.

"Huh?"

He screamed internally. The person he was in love with, yeah pretty sure about that now, had just invited him to dinner at his house and all he responded with was a disinterested 'huh'? What the hell was wrong with him? In his mind he took the basketball in his hands and repeatedly slammed it against his face. Goddammit that was such a good opportunity and now it might be gone! How could he have done that?

"Oh, well Momoi-san told me that you're home alone for the next three months so I just though it might be easier to eat a my place since you don't need to rush home."

Thank you for being so oblivious Bakagami! Thank you Satsuki! Aomine practically sang in his mind. Safe! He could still accept and not seem desperate.

"Oh sure then. What are you gonna cook? I'm starving."

Aomine stretched his arms and let them settle behind his head as he started walking in the direction Kagami came from.

Kagami snatched his bag from the bench and jogged up next to him.

"I'm not sure yet. I was thinking burgers since I have ground meat in the fridge."

"Ooh make teriyaki burgers."

"Huh?"

"Teriyaki. Like the ones at Maji."

Kagami groaned.

"Fine, I got it. I'll make teriyaki for the spoilt brat."

"Oi!"

Aomine whacked Kagami on the back of his head, then shoved his hands into his pockets as Kagami laughed.

Oh god he had missed that noise over the past week.

"We're gonna have to stop by the convenience store to get some stuff though."

"Whatever."

It was so easy, just walking together, joking and poking fun at the other. Aomine smiled and wished he could be with Kagami like this forever.


	3. Chapter 3

Kagami massaged his forehead as yet another thud and string of curses resounded through his apartment. Exactly what had possessed him to invite that asshole into his home?

They had gotten to the grocery store normally, well if you count occasionally wanting to strangle someone normal, grabbed a shopping cart and started to go about picking things up for dinner.

Then Aomine decided to be, well, himself.

He started talking about how bored he was and that he didn't want walk around the grocery store like 'some brat with his mom'. Kagami was very proud of himself for acting civilly and maturely telling him to 'screw off or I'll poison your food'.

Then Aomine tried to sit in the child seat of the cart.

Yes.

He tried to fit his huge body into the freaking child seat.

Obviously this didn't work and he eventually gave it up in favour of occupying the larger space that most people would use for their groceries, not for an immature teenage boy.

At this point, Kagami was seriously questioning his own intelligence. Why had he started this? It was already developing into a headache and they hadn't even reached his apartment.

After getting Kagami to push him around the store, he refused to get out when they reached the checkout, asking the poor girl there to scan him along with the groceries, the tone he used clearly indicating it was some kind of horribly thought out innuendo.

After a lot of apologizing to the girl and trying to glare a hole through Aomine's skull, they completed their shopping and walked to Kagami's apartment.

Kagami had already developed a headache. It had been a battle to get Aomine's lazy butt out of the cart so they could leave the store.

After reaching their destination, Kagami was tempted to call Kuroko and ask to borrow one of Nigou's leashes. As soon as they walked through the door, Aomine had kicked off his shoes and disappeared.

Did he not have even a shred of politeness or courtesy in him?

After reining in his intruder, Kagami started preparing the hamburgers, all the while keeping an eye on Aomine who sat in a chair and watched from the table.

Then, predictably, Aomine got bored and started to find ways of amusing himself, which led to the current situation.

Aomine picked himself and the chair he had been using up off the floor and put the chair back in its place. Then he sat down and leaned back, balancing on the chair's two back legs.

Another thud.

Another stream of profanity.

Repeat.

This had been going on for at least twenty minutes and Kagami was experiencing the feeling of slowly losing his mind.

A dinging noise startled him out of his thoughts on how he could cleanly remove Aomine from this planet without anyone knowing.

Thank everything holy that the hamburgers were done.

Kagami whisked them out of the oven, slapped one on a bun with a plate and shoved it at his, now very unwelcome, guest.

"Food's done." He stated.

Aomine decided that the food was more enticing than falling on his butt and came over to investigate.

"Oh! That actually looks pretty good!"

Kagami gripped his spatula hard enough that he could almost feel the plastic reshaping itself. Killing is bad, he reminded himself before answering.

"Of course it looks good Ahomine. Unlike some useless idiot, I know how to cook."

Aomine must have missed the idiot comment since he made no retort and inelegantly stuffed his face with the burger.

Kagami sighed, prepared his pile of food, and joined Aomine at the table. Apart from the headache and annoyance that pretty much went hand in hand with Aomine's existence, it was kind of nice to have someone else in the normally empty room. It made it seem a little warmer, a little more welcoming.

They ate in relative silence, but Kagami found it was the comfortable type of quiet. It wasn't awkward or strange to him, they both just went about eating their food.

For the first time in a while, he found himself enjoying dinner with another person. He made a mental note that next time he wanted company, he would make the food in advance and skip the headache stage.

Aomine stuffed another burger into his mouth, half because they were damn good and half because he was too nervous to do anything else. You couldn't completely blame him though, Kagami was just sitting there silently putting one burger after the other into his vast stomach. Aomine could feel the silence like it was some kind of predator, stalking him and making his hands start to shake a bit.

Kagami was probably pissed at him. He had been really nervous since entering the grocery store, which was when the reality of how he was going to Kagami's home truly sunk in.

He had made a complete ass of himself to try and keep his mind distracted so that he wouldn't start completely freaking out.

Then they had reached Kagami's apartment. Aomine had practically leapt out of his shoes to explore. He immediately found Kagami's room. Listening to the angry voice coming from the kitchen, he figured he had a few moments before Kagami came to drag him away. He looked around curiously.

The big thing that struck him was that the room hardly looked lived in, except for a rumpled bed and some papers on the desk in the corner. There were no personal items on the dresser or posters on the walls, it was pretty bare.

Aomine listened carefully to any hint of Kagami approaching, to which there was none as of yet, then flopped face first onto Kagami's bed.

The pillow was soft, fluffy and gave off that intoxicating smell that was unique to Kagami. He probably would have stayed like that for the entire day given the chance, but he heard footsteps approaching and quickly got up.

Just as Kagami reached the door, Aomine knelt down and started peering around under the bed.

"Aomine? What are you doing?"

Kagami was clearly puzzled.

"Oh just looking for your porn collection. It's gotta be around here somewhere."

Aomine replied while standing up. Kagami's face turned bright red, probably with a mix of fury and embarrassment.

"I don't have any of those things lying around here!" He sputtered.

Aomine scratched his head.

"Well then where are they?"

At this, Kagami had firmly grabbed him and propelled him to the kitchen, sat him down on a chair and gone about preparing, then eating dinner.

Aomine didn't know how to react. It was similar to how he felt at the court, though nowhere near as strong. He wanted to run as far away as possible so that he wouldn't do anything to make Kagami truly hate him, but he couldn't bear to leave.

"You still hungry?"

Kagami's voice snapped him back into his current predicament. He was confused for a moment, then a wave of relief washed over him. Kagami had caught him staring as he thought, but thankfully had assumed he was staring at his almost-empty plate.

Nope, your burgers were delicious. Thanks. I really enjoyed them. We should do this again sometime. I'm not staring at your food, I was staring at your face. Sorry, I just find you immensely attractive and am trying my best not to get aroused from you waltzing around in an apron. Its no biggie, really, I just want to bury my face in the crook of your neck, wrap my arms around your back, feel the warmth of your skin and breathe in your unique scent.

Like hell he could actually say all that, so Aomine settled with a simpler alternative.

"Nah, just wondering how you prevent that black hole in your stomach from consuming the rest of you."

Argh!

No!

Abort!

This was not what wanted to say! He had probably just raised the level of hatred Kagami already had for him!

Aomine expected Kagami to get angry, but was pleasantly surprised with some form of choked laughter that was emitted instead. Kagami wasn't angry?

"You're such an idiot you know? There are few people who would actually say that to a person's face!"

Kagami had stopped trying to suppress his laugh and was turning red in the face.

"Oi! Who are you calling an idiot Bakagami!?"

Aomine returned the insult, smiling and laughing a bit as well. So Kagami wasn't pissed at him. Thank God. He must have just not seen any reason to keep a conversation going while eating.

Aomine was immensely relieved. It was like a switch had been flipped in his brain. All of the tension he had been accumulating dissipated upon hearing Kagami's laughter. He had really been overthinking things.

But now what?

He doubted his feelings would change anytime soon. Now he had to find some way of dealing with them. Should he be honest and tell Kagami?

Now was probably one of the best opportunities he was going to get. Kagami was relaxed and probably more open-minded. Aomine knew that he was in control of himself and wouldn't do something stupid if things suddenly went off down some weird path.

All he needed to do was decide.

Should he do it now?

Should he wait longer to figure things out more?


	4. Chapter 4

Kagami was standing next to Aomine in his small kitchen, washing them dishes then passing them to Aomine to dry. Aomine was being uncharacteristically quiet, in fact the situation was just downright worrisome. He hadn't complained or kicked up any kind of fuss when Kagami told him to help with the dishes, and now he was obediently drying them beside him.

A quiet Aomine was new to him, and he didn't know what to make of it.

Another issue that elbowed its way to the front of his mind was that since he was worried, he was keeping half his attention on Aomine to figure out what was going on. This wasn't the problem itself but it was definitely the trigger. He found himself noticing things he wouldn't have otherwise.

Aomine looked nervous.

Not even the normal kind of nervous, no, this was full on 'I just killed your parents' nervous.

His breathing hitched on occasion, his eyes darted around and he seemed like he was trying to speak, but the words just wouldn't come out.

It was very unsettling.

Kagami had no idea what to do and he doubted anything he did would actually be helpful since even an accidental brush of their fingers in passing the dishes led to Aomine flinching and avoiding his skin.

What the hell was eating at him?

Kagami grabbed a pot and scrubbed viciously, trying to expel his frustration at the situation on the poor object. Why the sudden change in Aomine's demeanor? He had been fine a little while ago, Kagami had actually been enjoying himself and been under the impression that it was the same on both sides, but Aomine suddenly snapped into this strange state.

While Kagami continued his inner grumbling and Aomine continued his weirdness, they managed to finish the dishes, a few new scratches added to the pots courtesy of Kagami's scrubbing.

"Hey I've got a couple of DVDs on the NBA, wanna watch?"

It was worth a try. If anything could put Aomine back into his normal sate, it was basketball. Granted, they couldn't go back out and play at this time so a DVD was the closest thing there was.

Aomine nodded and followed him into the living room, sat down in a corner of the couch, then drew his knees up to rest his chin on.

Kagami almost fell into another laughing fit. How could he help it, Aomine looked like a little kid brooding about being denied a cookie!

Kagami managed to control himself, slip the DVD in to the player and plopped himself down next to Aomine on the couch.

Aomine obviously hadn't been expecting that and stiffened visibly.

Kagami's worry increased. He had never seen the other act anything like this.

Aomine gripped onto his knees so tightly his knuckles looked white, and with his skin colour, that was a pretty impressive feat. He leaned his upper body away from Kagami and appeared as though he was trying to shuffle himself further away without bringing it to attention.

Kagami pondered his options for a moment before choosing the direct approach.

"Hey."

It was just a simple word, yet Aomine looked like he had barely prevented himself from shrieking in surprise.

Yeah something definitely wasn't fine.

"Are you okay? You're acting really strangely."

Aomine's eyes widened slightly. Oh, so he wasn't aware of his actions.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just acting like I always do."

"Umm lets go with no. You're seriously making me worry over here."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah. You been like this since the end of dinner."

Aomine frowned at that and seemed to sink deeper into his thoughts.

Kagami didn't know what to do so he used the textbook approach, hoping it would help a little bit.

"You know you can talk to me when something's eating at you, right? I won't judge you and if you don't want me to I won't even respond. It might help to get it off your chest though."

Aomine stared at Kagami, eyes like daggers.

"You won't judge? Is that an ironclad promise?"

"Sure."

Aomine seemed to relax a bit. His gaze softened a little and he leaned back on the couch with his head tilted towards the ceiling. He just stared for a bit before he decided to speak.

"I'm confused. I'm really, really confused. There's someone I've seriously fallen for, but I don't have any idea of how to make an approach. I see this person often enough but there's no way I can just confess out of the blue."

Oh shit.

Love problems.

Thankfully, this was one of the few things Kagami had some knowledge on. He had never seriously dated someone before but he knew enough about the entire process.

Kagami decided to just wait it out to see if there was more Aomine had to say. After another few minutes of silence, Aomine's voice rang out again.

"I don't know what to do. I want to run forwards, yet I also want to run as far away as I can."

Kagami was slightly shocked at the raw emotion that appeared in Aomine's voice. He must truly like this person then, to be agonizing over it so much.

"Hey, you don't have to, but if you tell me who it is I might be able to help you out a bit."

Aomine's eyes slid in their sockets to stare at him instead of the ceiling. His mouth twisted in a sad, half grin.

"Actually if I told you who it was half of the problem would already be solved."

Huh?

What was this idiot going on about now?

Why the hell hasn't he spilled it then?

Kagami was just about to voice his thoughts when Aomine open his mouth again and Kagami had the good sense to shut up and listen.

"This is going to sound weird as hell."

Aomine sat up and turned so his torso was pointing at Kagami.

"The person I'm in love with is Kagami."

What.


	5. Chapter 5

Aomine waited, his last words seeming to sink into Kagami. The television, now forgotten, was still emitting sounds from the movie they were both ignoring. Aomine's mined felt honed to a point, every thought focused on Kagami's impending reaction.

Kagami's eyes were widened in surprise. They sat there in the almost silent room staring at each other, minds churning as they tried to process the situation at hand.

Kagami was the one to break the silence as he turned back to the television screen.

"Oh, okay then."

Huh?

That was it?

Aomine was about to speak when he noticed Kagami fidgeting a bit. He decided to continue staring at him instead.

"Well, I guess we should just hang out on that basis from now on."

"What do you mean?"

Ugh.

His voice sounded weak and shaky even to his own ears.

"Well it's not like you can really jump headfirst into this kind of thing. Besides, I've never really looked at you with that in mind so I'll need some time to think on it."

He made a good point, a painfully good point. Aomine though it would result in either Kagami getting grossed out, or Kagami saying that he liked him back and then they would get down to business in Kagami's bedroom. At least that's how it worked in manga.

He hadn't even considered the possibility that Kagami would handle the situation as well as he did. Aomine had definitely seen a new side of him, which of course spiked his curiosity on why he had answered like that.

They had both turned back to the television at this point, Aomine noticeably more relaxed and Kagami deep in thought.

"Hey Kagami, umm, you handled that a lot better than I thought you would."

"Hmm? Oh, well it's the same either way right? It's not like I could just brush off a serious confession like that and you're gonna want an answer."

"But even so, getting a confession from a guy must be pretty weird."

"Not really. I mean, its not like it's any different from liking a girl. Just so happens that the reproductive parts are the same. I don't really see what the big deal is."

Another surprising answer.

It seemed like Kagami actually had a pretty decent head on his shoulders when logically thinking was concerned.

"Still, thanks."

Out of the corner of his eye, Aomine saw a grin spread over Kagami's face.

"No problem."

They finished the evening off with relative normalcy. They finished the movie, snacked on popcorn and Aomine went home, thankfully looking much more like his normal self. Kagami stared at the door after he left.

Now what?

He walked to his bathroom and started up the shower. He hadn't washed all the sweat from their game off yet. After stripping, he eagerly stood under the spray and let the hot water flow over his body.

So that's what was on Aomine's mind.

It was weird, Kagami couldn't say what he felt about this new development. He had been confessed to by girls, but he had never really gotten past the friendship stage. He appreciated them, but they never lit the spark.

He started cleaning himself up as he thought.

He recalled Aomine's face as he rubbed shampoo into his hair. He had looked so nervous. There's no way that this was something he had decided overnight. It seemed like he was serious about it.

That was something else weird. Aomine was being serious about something. It gave him a swirl of satisfaction to add to the emotional smoothie his mind was currently blending. His very existence could make Aomine Daiki do something so completely out of character.

His face flushed as he remembered how Aomine looked right after he said those life-altering words. He looked so expectant, worried and dangerously focused that it brought to mind a cat trying its best to win the affection of its owner with a dead bird. It had wiped the usual snarky 'cat got the canary' expression off his face and left something softer, more vulnerable and almost kind.

He wanted to see that face again. He had no idea why but he really wanted to see Aomine make that face once more.

Kagami finished showering and collapsed onto bed after drying off. He buried his face into his pillow and froze.

Something wasn't right.

He inhaled deeply.

There.

He could smell Aomine.

Oh.

It all made sense now. Aomine's mad dash around the apartment was for this purpose. He had shoved his face into Kagami's pillow.

Kagami almost laughed at his lack of planning. Aomine had evidently forgotten that he was sweaty after playing. When someone sweats, their scent becomes very clear. Aomine probably didn't think he'd get caught.

Kagami fell asleep soon after, still grinning at Aomine's antics.

Sunday passed at the same pace Sunday usually did, way too quickly. Kagami swore that the world sped up just a bit every Sunday to piss off its inhabitants and make Mondays longer. It was nearing evening when he got a text from Kuroko.

_-Kagami-kun, there's something wrong with Aomine-kun.-_

Huh?

Alarm bells started ringing in Kagami's mind. Something wrong? Was he injured? Oh god was it food poisoning? Maybe he shouldn't have pressed him to eat all that popcorn. He quickly sent a message back.

_-Huh? What's wrong? Is he injured?-_

_-No but he has called me on Skype and is a blubbering mess. This is unprecedented. Since you two were playing yesterday I thought that you may know what is wrong.-_

_-What's he saying?-_

_-From what I can make out, it's mostly 'I'm such an idiot' and 'why did I have to go and say that'.-_

_-Ah. That makes a bit of sense.-_

_-Kagami-kun. I am at my wits end here. Please explain this because it has been going on for the past hour.-_

_-Well, he kinda confessed to me yesterday and I said we should just hang out off that basis and he looked like he was calming down but I guess not.-_

_-That does make sense. Thank you. I shall go try to calm him down. Oh, do not tell him about this conversation. It will only damage his pride.-_

_-Uh, sure.-_

Kagami set his phone down next to him and went back to tackling his current nemesis, otherwise known as his calculus homework. He stared at the letters and formulas, wishing they would roll themselves into a ball and decompose.

Aomine was a blubbering mess.

He tried to imagine it, watery eyes, runny nose, shaking jaw, sniffling and whining, then he fell off his chair laughing.

What the hell?

Aomine's messed up face came into his mind.

'The only one that can make me upset is me!'

Oh wait, that was wrong. It was half because of Kagami that he was upset. Kagami felt another surge of satisfaction as he mentally tacked the words 'and Kagami!' onto the end of his parody of Aomine's infamous phrase.

Oh, that was something else he needed to figure out. What was with that satisfaction he felt every time he affirmed how deep Aomine's feelings ran? He pushed it to the back of his mind for now. It could wait until they met up again.

Kagami looked at his phone and groaned.

It was already 11PM.

He glanced down as his almost pristine answer sheet and gave up.

Calculus sucks.

* * *

I just want to say thank you to all of you who have read this fic and given me such a positive response! I'll do my best to keep the updates on track but its a little odd because i'm just writing this and inventing it as i go! i have no idea where this is even going but i'll try my best to get it there!

Thanks again!

- Kei

oh, and i started up a blog where I post all of these and maybe some fanart i do. If you prefer that platform for reading the link is on my page!


	6. Chapter 6

Kagami grabbed the ball he kept near the door and almost bolted out of his apartment. Coach had forbidden any extra basketball until the end of the week, due to test season approaching. Their team couldn't afford to suffer because of the bad marks that seemed to be fond of appearing on Kagami's papers.

Kagami grudgingly accepted that her work in making him a barely acceptable student was paying off, though he still hated her methods. It was Friday after practice and he had way too much energy left over from the week.

He had fired off a quick text earlier today telling to Aomine to get his butt over to the usual court whenever he finished practice, but he had no way of knowing whether the other would actually make it. When Kagami reached the court, he almost dropped the ball in surprise.

There was someone else there.

Actually, make that four someones.

As he slowed down his pace and walked over as they turned to face him like they were expecting his arrival at that very moment.

What the hell was going on?

Kise smiled that annoyingly fluffy looking smile of his, Kuroko waved stoically, Takao's face formed one of his usual smirks and Midorima simply stared at him, looking just as constipated and antisocial as usual.

"Yo."

Kagami gave a short wave as he greeted them. Weird or not, they were here now and obviously had some kind of purpose. He only hoped it was to play basketball. He really wanted to exhaust himself today.

"Hey Kagamicchi!"

Kise, unsurprisingly, was the first to respond.

The others nodded their greeting.

"Umm, well there's no easy way to put this but we were called in to be distractions."

Takao's voice sounded sheepish.

Distractions?

Kuroko evidently saw the questions forming in Kagami's slightly bewildered mind and chose to explain before voicing them was necessary.

"Aomine-kun called me today regarding the recent turn that events have taken. He wanted me to tell you he wouldn't be coming today, even though there's no reason behind that, but I managed to bully him into coming. I told him is that I would bring more people so he doesn't have to feel nervous about meeting up with Kagami-kun."

Kagami heroically stopped the roar of laughter from exiting his mouth.

Aomine was so freaked out by this whole thing that he couldn't even hang out with Kagami alone?

He didn't know why but Kagami found this to be hilarious.

"I still don't understand why I have to be here and play with you monkeys nanodayo."

Ah.

There we go.

The king of constipation has spoken.

All hail.

"Aww, come on Shin-chan! It'll be fun to play for a bit! It'll only be for an hour or two! Right Kagami?"

"Erm, when Aomine and I usually play we end up going until it gets dark."

Kagami blinked at the three shocked stares he received, Midorima being an exception. Seriously, does he have a gastric problem or something?

"You guys play one-on-one for hours here? Every week? Uwah, no wonder you two seem stronger lately –ssu."

Kise nodded his head and scratched his nose, seeming to see a few blank spots in a puzzle get filled in with the new information.

Midorima just grunted and marched over to the side of the court to the contraption he and Takao travelled by. He sat down in the cart section, folded his arms and stuck his nose into the air with an expression of distaste.

As Takao bounced over to coax the king out of his carriage, Aomine slouched into the court.

At first glance, Kagami noticed about a million things that were off about him.

His hair had been combed, messed up and then tidied again so it wasn't too obvious.

He wasn't wearing his sweaty old tank top that had probably been used at least ten times without being washed, this one looked clean.

One of his hands was in the pocket of his sweats, visibly clenched in a fist, while the other clung onto the strap of his bag. He was gripping it tightly enough that his knuckles were turning a few shades lighter that the rest of him.

He looked bored and slouched, but the tightness of his shoulders betrayed him.

Aomine Daiki looked very nervous to Kagami's eyes.

If the others noticed, probably only Takao and Kuroko would, they wisely said nothing. There was no point in hurting the pride of someone who based almost all of his actions off of it.

Aomine blinked with feigned exhaustion and nodded at the five of them in greeting. Takao had somehow persuaded his majesty the carrot man to get off his royal behind and join in on the game so they went three-on-three.

Kuroko chose the teams, putting himself, Kagami and Kise on one with Aomine, Takao and Midorima on the other. It seemed like a good match up.

In reality, it was even better than a simple good match up. They were so evenly matched that neither team could get any decent headway over the other. They lost track of time as they immersed themselves in the game they all loved, blood boiling with their desire for victory. They played for hours, until Kagami noticed that the orange glow in the sky was in fact the sun setting and called a halt to their fun.

The others looked at him questioningly when he snatched the ball and stood up from his stance nonchalantly.  
"Sun's going down so we should probably call it quits."

Four pairs of eyes looked up at the darkening sky in surprise. Heck, even Midorima seemed startled. Aomine was used to it.

Speaking of Aomine, Kagami was glad that the others had come. Aomine had relaxed right after Kagami's team scored the first basket and had immersed himself in the game along with the rest of them. It would have been harder to get him to calm down alone.

As the others chatted a little and packed up their bags, Kagami did something he was almost certain he'd regret in about ten minutes.

"Hey, you guys wanna have dinner at my place?"

Though he was speaking to all of them, his attention was focused mainly on Aomine's reaction.

It was exactly like he thought.

Aomine stiffened up, frantically started glancing around and hunched his shoulders a bit.

He was waiting for someone else to take up the offer first.

Kuroko realized the situation immediately and agreed, Kise's agreement hot on his heels and only then did a muttered "Sure" leave Aomine's mouth. The royal weirdo declined, thankfully, and Takao, being the official vehicle of said royal weirdo, also took his leave.

As Takao pedaled Midorima off into the sunset, groaning, panting and sweating with the exertion, the four remaining walked in the direction of the grocery store to get enough food for half a stomach, two hungry teenage stomachs and one physics defying internal black hole.

Kagami thought that Kuroko's description of his appetite was appropriate so he'd become accustomed to using it.

"By the way, what do you guys want to eat?"

Kuroko was the first to respond.

"A vanilla shake."

"Food. Not a cup of Kuroko-style IV fluid."

"A small slice of vanilla cake with a vanilla shake."

Kagami rubbed his temples and groaned.

"Okay what do the rest of you want?"

"Kagami-kun do I get my vanilla shake?"

"Yes I'll make your damn shake!"

Kuroko's eyed crinkled with satisfaction.

"Ooh how about we have sushi –ssu!"

"Kise. I am not making sushi. It's not even fresh fish day."

"Aww… Well then how about we eat turkey! Like we're celebrating Thanksbringing -ssu!"

"It's Thanksgiving and it'll take hours to cook a turkey. Too long."

"Aominecchi? What do you want?"

Aomine flinched a little when Kise turned his attention on him. He had been walking silently ever since they left, which was rather strange.

"Teriyaki burgers."

He muttered the two words and looked down.

Ah, so he was embarrassed.

"That sounds good to me. You guys okay with that?"

Kagami quickly responded, trying to dispel the slight tension that had appeared.

He received two eager nods and they continued on to the store.

Mayhem.

It was utter mayhem.

Kagami reminded himself that he would never ever go to a grocery store with anyone ever again. It had begun pretty well, he had told the others that he'd grab the ingredients so they could just do as they pleased for a bit.

Aomine had immediately situated himself in the cart, at least he knew he wouldn't fit in the child seat this time, and looked almost like Midorima had earlier when he sat down in the back of that bike cart. Kagami didn't even try to waste his time getting the asshole out.

Kise had happily dashed off after Kuroko, who went to stare at the baking section and the ice cream.

Things went pretty well until Kise's fast movements made his false glasses and hat fall off.

Kise was easily recognized by the mass of elderly ladies while others realized from their exclamations.

Then the mayhem began.

Almost every customer in the store swarmed Kise in an attempt to get an autograph or a photo or whatever else was wanted. Thankfully, mister popular knew not to alert the crowd that he was here with others, lest they be dragged in too.

Kagami snatched Kuroko from the edges of the fray, paid for his cartful of groceries and Aomine, then slipped out the door. After dividing up the bags, they walked a little ways to a park and sat down to wait.

Kise didn't take long, running down the street with his hat and glasses back in place.

"Sorry! I didn't think the would happen –ssu!"

He frantically apologized. The other three just laughed at him and passed over his share of the bags before continuing.

At his apartment, Kagami experienced a remarkable feeling of deja vu as the other three bolted away from the door to explore. Kuroko and Kise headed to the kitchen while Aomine went straight to Kagami's room.

Ah.

He was going to do it again.

An evil feeling crept into Kagami's limbs and he grinned. Kagami walked very carefully down the hall towards his bedroom. Aomine had probably figured he would have time since there were groceries to put away and two others to deal with.

Wrong.

Kagami carefully looked through the slightly open door to his bedroom and saw exactly what he predicted.

Aomine had flopped down onto Kagami's bed and was lying there with his face buried in the pillow.

As Kagami watched him, Aomine turned his face slightly and nuzzled into the object.

Kagami noticed that the tension had left him, he no longer looked nervous and he looked rather blissed out.

Kagami's grin widened as a strange urge to tease the other flowed through him.

He quietly slipped through the door so that the unsuspecting Aomine would be able to see him, then he cleared his throat.

The effect was instantaneous.


	7. Chapter 7

Aomine's shriek could have rivaled the pitch of a chinchilla's angry war cry.

He leapt out of the bed like it had burst into flame and stood there staring at Kagami. His entire face had a pink hue to it and his mouth kept opening and closing as if he was some sort of stranded fish.

Kagami tried not to laugh, tried being the key word. He ended up doubled over, his stomach hurting from the force of contracting muscles, while two sets of footsteps and concerned voices approached from the kitchen. Aomine, probably hearing them, bolted around Kagami and fled out the door, panic in his eyes. Another door slammed shut down the hall, probably the bathroom door.

Kagami was still laughing when Kuroko and Kise rushed in. He dismissed their questions while wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes.

That had gone even better than he had imagined.

Kagami ushered the other two back into the kitchen and began making dinner, still giggling now and then at the memory of Aomine's reaction.

He wished he had set up a camera to capture the moment.

* * *

Kuroko snatched the vanilla shake as soon as Kagami had put the finishing touches on it.

"Oi! Calm down!"

Kuroko didn't respond, his mouth was already full of the delicious blend. Kagami sighed and slid one in Kise's direction as well. Kise attacked his with slightly more restraint, actually waiting until the drink had arrived before pouncing.

As Kagami went back to shaping patties to add to the trays, he heard a door open. It was accompanied by light footsteps padding down the hall to where they sat.

Looks like someone decided to show his face again.

Aomine walked into the room, hands shoved deep into his pockets, and sat down beside the rest of them without a word. As Kise and Kuroko looked at him questioningly, Aomine threw a slightly relieved glance in Kagami's direction, probably thanking him for not spilling the details.

"You would not believe the size of the shit I just took."

Oh nice one.

Way to get the conversation going while preparing food.

Then again, he had been in that room for a while and only God knows what had been happening during all that time. Kagami made a silent resolution to clean the toilet until it sparkled after the others left, just to be safe.

Kagami glanced at the other two, whose expressions of curiosity had turned into annoyance and disgust. Well, it did throw them off the trail for now. Kagami expected that Kuroko would remember and try again after they had eaten.

That might be fun.

Kagami stopped himself quickly at that thought. What was he doing? This newfound urge to exploit Aomine's weak side was surprising to say the least. It's not like he was doing any of this out of spite, he was genuinely enjoying the myriad of reactions he could produce from the other. It was like he had eaten a single french fry, then another, then another and another. He started to want more. He wanted to see how far he could push and how many fries he could eat.

Kagami shoved all of those confusing thoughts in a mental box, sealed it, then focused on finishing dinner preparations as a huge rumble emanated from his body. His stomach was screaming to him that he needed to prioritize the food or risk death by starvation.

He chose to hurry up with the food.

* * *

As Kagami let out a burp after devouring his final burger, Kuroko's eyes focused on Aomine like he was prey.

"Aomine-kun, what were you doing earlier?"

Aomine jolted in his seat and evaded looking into Kuroko's eyes. He managed to keep his face slack and expression bored while answering, folding his arms back behind his head to complete the image.

"I was taking a crap. I already told you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What was that yell about?"

Aomine looked slightly uncomfortable and discreetly started to fidget a bit with his hair. Kagami was entertained, but starting to worry at the same time. The fidgeting didn't get past him. He didn't like how stressed Aomine, the master of looking bored, was starting to look.

A small realization hit him.

Aomine never told Kuroko about confessing, so he's most likely still under the impression that the no one else knew. Kuroko had found out from Kagami, but never said anything about their conversation to Aomine.

This could get bad quickly.

The last thing anyone needed was an overly freaked out Aomine Daiki. Just the idea of that was scary.

"It was nothing."

"I've never heard you shriek like that before. How was that nothing? It sounded like some small animal was being torn to pieces."

Aomine looked like he was going to bolt so Kagami made a split second decision and decided to rescue him from Kuroko's interrogation.

"This idiot was searching my room for porn and when I came up behind him to tell him off, he got startled and his foot collided with one of the bedposts. That's why he was yelling like a girl."

Aomine seemed furious, then calmed down slightly as the realization dawned on him that Kagami had just saved his ass.

Kuroko nodded, seeming appeased, and Kise started laughing at the fake scenario.

As Aomine shouted profanities and chased Kise around, Kuroko looked straight at Kagami with questions still in his eyes.

Of course the lie didn't get past him.

Kagami shook his head and stared back, trying to tell Kuroko with his gaze that it was something related to the recent events and that he would handle it.

Kuroko seemed to get the message and engaged himself in the game of 'kill the blonde' taking place by tripping Kise.

That was a mistake.

* * *

Aomine had been following so closely behind Kise that he had to frantically jump to the side to avoid tripping over the sprawled out limbs. This landed him right in Kagami's lap, who was just about to get up.

Aomine realized what had just happened and whipped his head around to face Kagami, only to catch his breath.

Their faces were only a couple inches apart.

He could see every detail of Kagami's face. He noticed the slightly red eyelashes, the surprised look in his eyes, the way his bangs reached past his eyebrows, the way his lips slightly parted and their colour, how inviting they looked, how much he wanted to know how they would feel against his own, then froze.

He had been about to close that tiny amount of distance.

His face felt like it had gotten an instantaneous sunburn and his eyes widened as he jumped off Kagami as quickly as he could.

Damn it.

Damn it.

Damn it.

Damn that Bakagami.

As he tried to focus his mind back on catching Kise, who was surprisingly good at evading him, his mind reeled over a detail that he couldn't forget or neglect. It was a detail that gave him hope.

When he had accidentally started to lean closer, Kagami hadn't moved his face away.

* * *

"Ah, the fizzy stuff is in the clear jug on the right!"

Kagami called over his shoulder to Aomine while bringing a load of juices to the table. They were all thirsty after running around so Kagami had suggested mixing the juices he had with carbonated water to make them more appealing. Aomine looked into the fridge and saw two containers, both clear and both filled with clear liquid. He grabbed one, mind on other matters and not really paying attention to which one it was, then brought it back to the table.

Kagami set about doing the dishes while the other three happily consumed drink after drink. When he finished, he went over and found something he never expected to see.

Kuroko was flushed and looked dizzy, Kise was happily sipping his drink and Aomine was passed out cold on the table, a goofy smile plastered on his face.

What. The. Hell.

A horrible thought occurred to him so he grabbed the clear container of carbonated water and sniffed.

Vodka.

This had to be a joke.

Aomine had grabbed the wrong container.

Kagami remembered only now that the other container held the vodka. Alex had left it when she visited a month ago and he had forgotten all about getting rid of it, only remembering to avoid it.

He glared at Kise, the only one left that looked sober.

"You knew, didn't you?"

Kise flashed him one of his model smiles before responding.

"Of course Kagamicchi! I've had to learn to recognize and conquer this stuff because of work!"

"And you didn't think to tell me or either of them before they got drunk?"

"But it's more fun this way!"

Kagami sighed. This was going to be more annoyance than he had bargained for when he invited them all over.

"Alright, you take Kuroko home because I don't think he can get there himself and I'll deal with Aomine somehow."

"Roger!"

Kagami wondered whether Kise was actually drunk at that response and the fact that he hadn't been adding that annoying –ssu to whatever he said.

After trying to talk sense into Kuroko, who seemed convinced that there were floating Nigous everywhere and wanted to catch them, dealing with Kise in his model mode, calling a cab, piling a flamboyantly grinning Kise and hallucinating Kuroko in, Kagami went back inside his apartment to deal with a large, unconscious problem with the name Aomine Daiki.

Aomine was exactly where he had been left, slumped on the kitchen table and out cold.

Kagami had already tried everything he knew of to rouse the idiot to no avail. He slung Aomine's arms over his shoulders and stood up to drag him over to the couch. He was about half of the way there when Aomine stirred, muttering something and twitching his fingers.

Kagami paused and tugged on one of the arms he held.

"Oi, if you're awake then walk your own drunk ass over to the couch Ahomine. You're really damn heavy."

Aomine let out a low groan and pushed his face into Kagami's hair, right behind his ear left. His breathing evened out and quickly became deeper.

He had fallen asleep.

Kagami muttered curses as he dragged Aomine the rest of the way to the couch, shivering because of how Aomine's breathing was tickling his ear, turned around and dumped him unceremoniously onto it. He was about to stand up when the arms still over his shoulders tightened and yanked him backwards so that he fell on his butt right next to the couch.

"Shit!"

Kagami yelled as he collided with the ground. That was definitely going to leave a bruise. He twisted to stare angrily at Aomine and was startled.

Aomine had once again buried his face into Kagami's hair and, from what Kagami could see, had an expression of complete bliss on his face.

Kagami sighed when he noticed that he couldn't budge Aomine's arms from their death grip on him.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Aomine woke up to a pounding headache and reminded himself to kill Kise. That damn model had only explained what they were drinking right before he passed out. He noticed a pleasant aroma wafting around him and cracked open his eyes.

Red.

He opened them a little more and blinked.

Still red.

Opening his eyes fully, Aomine realized that his face was buried in hair, specifically the hair at the nape of Kagami's neck. Not to mention his arms were wrapped around the other's shoulders in an awkward sideways embrace.

He sat up quickly, releasing his hold, which caused Kagami to jolt awake.

He blinked slowly and turned to look directly at Aomine.

Was he going to say good morning?

Or just greet him?

Or maybe ask what he wanted for breakfast?

What happened was not something Aomine had predicted in his happy little fantasy.

Kagami's entire expression became dark and stormy. He stood up and glared down at Aomine.

Holy shit.

What had he done?

"I am never taking care of your drunk ass again Ahomine. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to sleep sitting up on the floor with your arms wrapped around my neck in a death grip? No? Well then let me explain. It fucking hurts! I have aches and pains everywhere and they're definitely not from playing basketball yesterday. Why the hell did you grab the wrong container? It is so difficult? I had to deal with a really weird Kise and hallucinating Kuroko! Do you have any idea how heavy you are?"

As Kagami vented his anger, Aomine recalled everything from yesterday. Even something that he wished he had forgotten.

He face went red.

"Uh, I'm gonna go shower."

Aomine quickly jumped up and headed to the bathroom, dodging Kagami's frustration for the moment.

After he had situated himself under the hot spray, he sank to his knees and grabbed his head.

What had he been thinking?

Kagami had caught him in the act of being a complete pervert, not to mention how he had almost kissed him.

Thankfully it had seemed like Kagami didn't remember or didn't notice the latter.

He had been a complete wreck yesterday, trying to cancel the game, then going, and then finally screwing up completely at Kagami's house. Still, what really frustrated and confused him about the whole situation was Kagami himself.

Why was he acting the way he was?

Did Kagami notice how tense and nervous everything made him?

Why didn't he react when he caught Aomine on his bed?

Why did he save him from Kuroko's questions?

Was he thinking about the confession?

Why didn't Kagami move his face when he had started leaning in?

Thoughts and questions whirled around in Aomine's mind while sat there in the shower. The biggest one by far was a question that had been nagging at him for days.

What should he do now?

* * *

Sorry this was so long! This is half of the material I was originally going to put in the chapter but it was WAAAY too much, so I pushed some stuff into the next one!

I hope you are enjoying this story!

Thank you for all the kind words and good feedback I have been receiving! It always makes me grin like an idiot!

If you have any comments or questions or opinions or anything please go ahead and tell me!

Thank you for reading this!

- Kei


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